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General Information

Document type
  • Peer-reviewed journal article
GE organism
  • maize
GE trait
  • insect resistance
Country
  • USA

Results

Safety for environment
  • mixed

Occurrence of maize detritus and a transgenic insecticidal protein (Cry1Ab) within the stream network of an agricultural landscape Open Access

Tank, JL; Rosi-Marshall, EJ; Royer; TV; Whiles, MR; Griffiths, NA; Frauendorf, TC; Treering, DJ
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.. 2010 October. 107(41):17645-17650

Link to full text (open access, freely available)

PMID: 20876106 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1006925107 ISSN: 1091-6490

Abstract

Widespread planting of maize throughout the agricultural Midwest may result in detritus entering adjacent stream ecosystems, and 63% of the 2009 US maize crop was genetically modified to express insecticidal Cry proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis. Six months after harvest, we conducted a synoptic survey of 217 stream sites in Indiana to determine the extent of maize detritus and presence of Cry1Ab protein in the stream network. We found that 86% of stream sites contained maize leaves, cobs, husks, and/or stalks in the active stream channel. We also detected Cry1Ab protein in stream-channel maize at 13% of sites and in the water column at 23% of sites. We found that 82% of stream sites were adjacent to maize fields, and Geographical Information Systems analyses indicated that 100% of sites containing Cry1Ab-positive detritus in the active stream channel had maize planted within 500 m during the previous crop year. Maize detritus likely enters streams throughout the Corn Belt; using US Department of Agriculture land cover data, we estimate that 91% of the 256,446 km of streams/rivers in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana are located within 500 m of a maize field. Maize detritus is common in low-gradient stream channels in northwestern Indiana, and Cry1Ab proteins persist in maize leaves and can be measured in the water column even 6 mo after harvest. Hence, maize detritus, and associated Cry1Ab proteins, are widely distributed and persistent in the headwater streams of a Corn Belt landscape.

Keywords

genetically modified crops, crop detritus, ELISA, rivers

Funding

Funding source
  • National Science Foundation
Funding country
  • United States
Funding type
  • government

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Cite this study

MLA

Tank, JL, EJ Rosi-Marshall, Royer, TV, MR Whiles, NA Griffiths, TC Frauendorf, DJ Treering. "Occurrence of maize detritus and a transgenic insecticidal protein (Cry1Ab) within the stream network of an agricultural landscape." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 107.41 (2010): 17645-17650. Web. 26 Dec. 2024.

APA

Tank, JL., Rosi-Marshall, EJ., Royer., TV., Whiles, MR., Griffiths, NA., Frauendorf, TC., & Treering, DJ. (2010). Occurrence of maize detritus and a transgenic insecticidal protein (Cry1Ab) within the stream network of an agricultural landscape. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A., 107(41), 17645-17650. doi:10.1073/pnas.1006925107

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